COLUMBUS -- Urban Meyer will have a very important piece of paper with him on Saturday when his Ohio State Buckeyes open their season against visiting the Miami Redhawks.

It won't be the well-known contract he signed with his family to keep him grounded during his return to coaching.

It will be his self-constructed cheat sheet of things to do on Saturday -- his own way of keeping himself grounded.

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Why does Meyer need such grounding?

To temper his excitement of returning to the place where he began his coaching career 25 years ago as an assistant to then-coach Earle Bruce.

Meyer said he saw his first game in Ohio Stadium around the age of 4. He's been a graduate assistant at Ohio State, coached against the Buckeyes in a national championship game, and even provided analysis of OSU games for ESPN during his season away from coaching.

But on Saturday, he will for the first time trot out of the tunnel in front of more than 107,000 fans as the head coach of the team he followed closely for most of his life.

And he needs some grounding.

"I'll have my notes. I'll carry a little folder to keep my face in the game and not worry when 'Hang on Sloopy' gets played," Meyer said on Monday. "That's real. I'll HAVE to do that because I'll be coming out of my shoes a little bit.

"It's going to be an emotional time. Very much so."

Ohio State and Miami are scheduled to kick off at noon. A a new coaching staff, a new face-paced offense and an aggressive move for future greatness has many excited -- including Meyer himself.

Ohio State is coming off its first seven-loss season since 1896, and Meyer is itching to rectify that.

"I'm really working at getting this team ready for Miami of Ohio. Everything I've got," Meyer said.

Those who are interested in on what Saturday might bring aren't alone. Count Meyer among the interested.

Although the Buckeyes return eight starters on defense, a unit that is expected to be the strength of the team, Ohio State on Saturday will unleash a brand new offense and -- with the exception of holdovers Luke Fickell and Mike Vrabel -- an entirely new coaching staff.

While Meyer said this is not the first time he has led a new team onto the field, the Ashtabula native said coming back from a year's hiatus, coaching "at home" and having a new staff for the first time in a decade are differences -- and create unknowns in his mind.

"I have a lot of guys on our coaching staff I didn't know. And obviously I don't know them very well yet," Meyer said.

Meyer said Saturday's game-time demeanor an choices will be different than in practice, where everyone reads off scripts.

"Usually I've had some continuity on offense (coaching)," he said. "This is completely new."

The past month of practices have Meyer feeling good about his team. The offensive line has gone from being non-functional -- Meyer's words -- in spring drills, the receiving corp has gone from questionable to a viable threat, quarterback Braxton Miller has rapidly picked up the new offense and the defense has been pushed by the offense both mentally and physically.

The opener isn't until Saturday, but Meyer feels his team is ready.

"I think I've got a team chomping at the bit to go play," Meyer said. "I like where we are right now.

"I want to make the great state of Ohio proud and go win this darned game coming up and look good doing it," he said. "Because our kids deserve that."